different between pinch vs jam

English

Etymology

From Middle English pinchen, from Old French *pinchier, pincer (“to pinch”), from Vulgar Latin *pinci?re (“to puncture, pinch”), from possible merger of *puncti?re (“a puncture, sting”), from Latin puncti? (“a puncture, prick”) and *picc?re (“to strike, sting”), from Frankish *pikk?n, from Proto-Germanic *pikk?n? (“to pick, peck, prick”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Verb

pinch (third-person singular simple present pinches, present participle pinching, simple past and past participle pinched)

1. To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

   The children were scolded for pinching each other.

   This shoe pinches my foot.

2. To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
3. To squeeze between two objects.
4. (slang, transitive) To steal, usually something inconsequential.

   Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
5. (slang, transitive) To arrest or capture.
6. (horticulture) To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
7. (nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
8. (hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
9. (obsolete, intransitive) To be stingy or covetous; to live sparingly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

   • 1788, Benjamin Franklin (attributed), Paper

     the wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare

10. To seize; to grip; to bite; said of animals.
11. (figuratively) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.

    to be pinched for money

    • c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War

      want of room […] which pincheth the whole nation

    • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 2:

      The Christian also spurns the pinched and mumping sick-room attitude, and the lives of saints are full of a kind of callousness to diseased conditions of body which probably no other human records show.

12. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.
13. (obsolete) To complain or find fault.
    • 1809, Alexander Chalmers ed. The Works of the English Poets, from Cahucer to Cowper, Vol. 1, modern rendering of poem imputed to Geoffrey Chaucer, "A Ballad which Chaucer made in Praise or rather Dispraise of Women for their Doubleness":

      Therefore who so them accuse

      Of any double entencion,

      To speake, rowne, other to muse,

      To pinch at their condicion,

      All is but false collusion,

      I dare rightwell the sothe express,

      They have no better protection,

      But shrowd them vnder doubleness.

Derived terms

• pinch off
• pinch out
• pinch a loaf

Translations

Noun

pinch (plural pinches)

1. The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
2. A close compression of anything with the fingers.

   I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.

3. A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
4. An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
   • 1955, Rex Stout, "Die Like a Dog", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, page 171:

     It took nerve and muscle both to carry the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get it out of his place and away from his door, and any of those four could have done it in a pinch, and it sure was a pinch.

5. A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.
6. An organic herbal smoke additive.
7. (physics) A magnetic compression of an electrically-conducting filament.
8. The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.
   • 2001, Terry Pratchett: Thief of Time:

     It looked like an hourglass, but all those little glittering shapes tumbling through the pinch were seconds.

9. (slang) An arrest.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (pinchi)

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?d?æm/
• (Southern England, Australia) IPA^(key): /?d?æ?m/
• - fruit spread
• - verb
• Rhymes: -æm
• Homophone: jamb

Etymology 1

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Eventually onomatopoeic, perhaps identical with Middle English cham (“to bite, to gnash one's teeth”), whence modern champ.

Noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

1. A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts.

   Synonyms: (US) conserve, jelly, preserve

2. (countable) A difficult situation.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation
3. (countable) Blockage, congestion.

4. (countable, popular music) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
5. (countable, by extension, informal) A song; a track.
   • 2001, Jet (volume 100, number 22, page 25)

     The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams.

6. (countable, by extension) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.

7. (uncountable, slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.

8. (countable, baseball) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.

9. (countable, basketball) A forceful dunk.
10. (countable, roller derby) A play during which points can be scored.

11. (climbing, countable) Any of several maneuvers requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.

12. (Britain, slang) luck.

13. (slang) sexual relations or the contemplation of them.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Czech: džem
• ? Japanese: ??? (jamu)
• ? Korean: ? (jaem)
• ? Russian: ???? (džem)
• ? Serbo-Croatian: dž?m, ????
• ? Slovak: džem

Translations

See also

• jelly
• marmalade

Verb

jam (third-person singular simple present jams, present participle jamming, simple past and past participle jammed)

1. To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, 3rd edition, 1719, p. 226,^[1]

     The Ship, which by its Building was Spanish, stuck fast, jaum’d in between two Rocks; all the Stern and Quarter of her was beaten to Pieces with the Sea […]

2. To brusquely force something into a space; cram, squeeze.
   • 1779, George Colman, Farewell Epilogue, spoken at Wynnstay after the representation of Cymbeline and The Spanish Barber, 22 January, 1779, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 3, p. 283,^[2]

     Since the new post-horse tax, I dare engage

     That some folks here have travell’d in the Stage:

     Jamm’d in at midnight, in cold winter weather,

     The crouded passengers are glew’d together.

3. To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up"

4. To block or confuse a broadcast signal.
5. (baseball) To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.

6. (music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
7. To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.

8. (roller derby) To attempt to score points.

9. (nautical, transitive) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
   • 1887, William Clark Russell, The Golden Hope

     It won't do to jam her,” answered Stone ;" but it might be worth findin' out if th' Hope won't lie closer than t' other can." Half a point ----"

10. (Canada, informal) To give up on a date or some joint endeavour; stand up, chicken out, jam out.

Synonyms

• ram

Derived terms

• (to squeeze into a small space): jam-pack
• jammer
• jam band
• jam session

Translations

Etymology 2

Persian or Hindi, meaning "garment, robe;" see ????? (“garment”). Related to pajamas.

Noun

jam (plural jams)

1. (dated) A kind of frock for children.

Etymology 3

Noun

jam (plural jams)

1. (mining) Alternative form of jamb

References

• jam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• jam at OneLook Dictionary Search
• jam in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• JMA, Maj, Maj., maj.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *esmi, from Proto-Indo-European *h?ésmi (“I am, I exist”), identical with Ancient Greek ???? (eimí), Sanskrit ????? (ásmi), English am. Aorist qeshë from Proto-Indo-European *k?el- (“to turn, revolve”), with a semantic development similar to Germanic *werdan (“to become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Verb

jam (first-person singular past tense qeshë, participle qenë)

1. to be

Conjugation

References

Czech

Etymology

From Portuguese inhame or Spanish iñame, both likely of West African origin.

Noun

jam m

1. yam (any Dioscorea vine)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English jam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??m/
• Hyphenation: jam
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

jam m (plural jams, diminutive jammetje n)

1. (chiefly Netherlands) jam (congealed sweet mixture of conserved fruits)

Synonyms

• confituur
• marmelade

Derived terms

• aardbeienjam
• jampot
• kersenjam

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/
• Hyphenation: jam
• Audio:

Adverb

jam

1. already

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam

1. granary, storehouse

Highland Popoluca

Noun

jam

1. lime

References

• Elson, Benjamin F.; Gutiérrez G., Donaciano (1999) Diccionario popoluca de la Sierra, Veracruz (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 41)?^[3] (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., ?ISBN, page 74

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay jam, from Sanskrit ??? (y?ma, “time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?d??am]
• Hyphenation: jam

Noun

jam (first-person possessive jamku, second-person possessive jammu, third-person possessive jamnya)

1. hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
2. clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)
3. (colloquial) time, particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something

   Synonyms: pukul, saat, waktu

Further reading

• “jam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

1. already

Javanese

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit ??? (y?ma)

Noun

jam

1. clock

Latgalian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?jam/
• Hyphenation: jam

Pronoun

jam

1. dative singular of jis

References

• Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, ?ISBN, page 37

Latin

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of iam

References

• jam in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Lindu

Noun

jam

1. time
2. hour
3. clock

Lithuanian

Pronoun

jam m

1. (third-person singular) dative form of jis.
   • 2007, Jurga (Jurga Šeduikyt?), Angelai

     Jo balti sparnai man tinka

     Jam savo šarvus dovanoju

     His white wings suit me

     I present to him my armor

Malay

Etymology

From Sanskrit ??? (y?ma, “time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d??am]
• Rhymes: -d??am, -am

Noun

jam (Jawi spelling ???, plural jam-jam, informal 1st possessive jamku, impolite 2nd possessive jammu, 3rd possessive jamnya)

1. hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
2. clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)

Further reading

• “jam” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian j?. Cognate with West Frisian jimme

Pronoun

jam

1. you (plural)
2. your (plural)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Noun

jam f

1. genitive plural of jama

Pronoun

jam

1. (informal, sometimes proscribed) Combined form of ja +? -m (first person singular pronoun + verb suffix).

Further reading

• jam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovene

Noun

jam

1. genitive dual/plural of jama

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /j??m/

Noun

jam n

1. meow (sound of a cat)

Declension

Related terms

• jama

Anagrams

• Maj, maj

Welsh

Etymology

From English jam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??am/

Noun

jam m (plural jamiau, not mutable)

1. jam

   Synonym: cyffaith

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “jam”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam c (plural jams)

1. jam, fruit preserves

Alternative forms

• sjem

Further reading

• “jam (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011